Cali
by CadoAstrum
Summary: Yes, I decided to re-upload this as I figured out how to seperate the chapters. Please read and review! I need some feedback on my more serious stuff..well, I say "serious" but it's just a bit of fun really CA -x
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE: Cali**

The high pitched whine of a single mosquito droned in Cali's ear drum as she lay in bed, trying to think as she did every night. She batted at it ferociously and the noise paused for a moment, allowing her a single second of peace; before it was off again. She growled in frustration and angrily flicked the light switch on, grabbing a magazine that lay on her desk and rolled it up as she went.

Pausing, she bent her knees, not unlike a tiger or lion would do when stalking its prey. She glanced around, slowly checking every detail. Cali had all the time in the world.

Lifting her deeply dark brown eyes up to the joining of the ceiling and wall and smiling devilishly, she spotted the culprit that had awoken her from the verge of slumber. It sat there, running it's hind legs over one another, as those annoying little critters so often do, almost daring her to take a swipe at it.

With a slam and a yell loud enough to wake the dead; or even her mother sleeping in the room next door, she pinned the blighter between the wall and her magazine.

"Ha! Gotcha!" she yelled triumphantly and smiled in satisfaction…before she heard that it was still buzzing around the room in an intensely annoying manner.

"Oh, what?! How is that even _possible_?!" she cried in anguish. So, she set off again after it.

"Come on, come and get me!" Cali whispered. From the corner of her eye, she spotted the blighter sitting within perfect reach of her deadly magazine. "Come on, that's it, you stay there whilst I come and have a nice little-" her sentence was cut off as it did a second or two of flight, landed in the middle of her forearm and bit with all it's might into her flesh. "Ouch! You little shit!" she swore at it before slamming her magazine down onto it. "That'll teach you. Ta for that though. That'll bug me for days." She grumbled before finally replacing her magazine and sliding back into bed and pulling the covers over her shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO: Home**

"Cali!! Get your butt out of that bed! NOW!!" screamed Cali's mother up the stairs. "You're gonna miss the train and I am NOT driving you all the way up to Scotland!"

Sighing, the teenaged girl rolled over and looked at the time displayed on her clock. She uttered just one, single word.

"Shit."

Grabbing her clothes, she shoved herself into them, quick as lightning, and dashed to the bathroom, her hairbrush held aloft. Five minutes later, Cali appeared with her usual everyday look- Dark brown, almost black hair poker straight with her slanting fringe covering her left eye, a small amount of black kohl pencil rimming her eyes, black skinny jeans, white ankle high converse and a green v-neck top and a silver tie loosely hanging around her neck. Except today was not everyday. Today was her first term back at school.

She slid down the banister of her home and landed neatly at the bottom with a small jump to kick start her dash into the kitchen. Her mother stood by the marble breakfast bar watching her early morning programmes and keeping an eye on the toast; though she wasn't doing a very good job. The pungent smell of smoke had already wafted through the house and was so dense in the kitchen that Cali had to cough and wipe her streaming eyes.

"Hey mum. Toast's on fire." She said casually walking into the elaborate room and sitting down. This room was the one room in the whole house with a Venice theme. Every other room was just about bog standard, but, for some reason her mother had insisted that this room be decorated, to quote, 'like the streets of Venice!' even though her mother had never been there. Luckily, the decorators knew this and had decorated the room, only a_ bit _like the streets of Venice.

There was a large, grand, white marble breakfast bar in the centre of the room, situated by the large floor to ceiling glass window that had been installed only a few months previously, looking out into the relatively large garden lined with alternating cherry blossoms and maple trees. An apple orchard lay at the bottom of the tree highway and further beyond that was a large pool and an outstretch of grass that Cali often took a fancy to lying upon with her iPod on shuffle for hours on end. There was a spiraling gold coloured column in the centre of the marble breakfast bar, and Cali had absolutely no idea why it was there in the first place. This was where the Venice theme ended. Cali was glad of it to be perfectly honest, and had thanked the decorators immensely when they had finished. Light green tiles lined the walls above the work surfaces and the cupboards had been designed to blend into their surroundings.

"Huh? Oh, right yeah, toast. Oh, I give up with this." Cali's mother explained, flicking the toaster off with her finger and chucking its contents into the bin.

"Right kids," she exclaimed, "toast's off. Cereal is in short supply," (by this she meant they had absolutely none in the house) "so looks like you're left with good old fashioned porridge." And so, smiling, she lifted out a bowl of steaming porridge from the microwave on the table top a few minutes later.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE: The Journey**

Half an hour later from her porridge and orange juice, Cali was sitting in the back of her mum's car, being taken to the train station, her school trunk crammed in the boot and almost to bursting point with new clothes, supplies and stuff she just had to show her best friend when she got on the train.

"Now listen to me. I know what you got up to last year, the headmaster told me. I don't want you trying any more tricks like that this year, okay?" her mother told her sternly. She could be strict when the time came. "And I don't want you getting too involved with the wrong crowd like you did last year, okay? You stay away from that David boy, or whatever his name is, if possible."

Cali tutted quietly as her mum continued her annual speech. How could she get his name wrong?! It's not exactly hard to remember, it's pretty unique.

"Mum!" Cali cut her off. "I'll be fine! I always am!" and with one swift movement, she grabbed her mum and the trolley with her trunk on and walked straight through the barrier.

Closing her eyes and breathing in the smoky air pumping from the train, she reminisced about all the memories she had stored away, ready to be unlocked once she arrived at her destination. It was comforting. And, at last, she opened her eyes. And there it was. The big, scarlet steam train emblazed with the large letters 'The Hogwarts Express', just ready and waiting for her to jump onboard and be whisked away towards the magnificent castle hundreds of miles away in Scotland.

Cali located her best friend in a compartment about half way down the train, hugged her tightly and pulled her to the train windows near the station side.

Her mum stood there on the platform along with what could have been a thousand parents waving goodbye to their offspring. Cali leant almost halfway out of the window and waved manically at her mum before the train's high pitched whistle blew and the familiar juttering of the train picking up speed began.

"Oh, _do _be careful!" her mum yelled after her as she waved back to her daughter. "What am I gonna do with her?!" she added under her breath.

Cali waited until she had gone around the bend and out of the train station until she stopped waving and pulled herself back into the warmth of the train.

"So, you, how have you been?" Cali quizzed her friend, beaming.

"I've been great thanks! Dad let me write my own article about how to check for Gnargles and keep them at bay!" Beamed Luna Lovegood. "How about you?" asked Luna, smiling innocently.

Cali chuckled at her friend, knowing just how crazy she could be at times. "Yeah, I've been good too. Missed you so much over the holidays!" and she leapt on her friend again, smothering her with bearhugs.

Suddenly, the compartment door burst open to reveal faces she had not seen in almost 7 weeks. Before Cali knew what was happening, she was being crushed beneath a tangle of bodies that had leapt on top of her.

"Cant…breathe!" she gasped jokingly.

"Oh, Cali! We've missed you so much!" Hermione was on the verge of tears but Cali had no idea why!

"Hey. I've missed you too but you don't see me trying to kill you lot!" she laughed and moved up to allow her friends to sit down. "So, how were all your holidays?"

Immediately, Hermione began talking at what must have been no less than 100 miles per hour about all the things she had done over the holidays.

"Well, I went home and spent about a month with my family and revising for this year then I went and spent the remaining 3 weeks of the holiday at The Burrow with Ron and Harry. Oh, you should have been there! Fred and George brought a few of their new products for us to test out and there's this thing called a 'Weasley's Puff of Mood'. I know, sounds bad, right? But it's brilliant! It's this little ball of green smoke that looks like a small cloud and it can tell your mood! A bit like a Remembrall but with moods…and more colours… " Hermione, for not the first time in her life, trailed off in thought, though for once she was not daydreaming about revision or exams! Or so it seemed anyway. "Anyway," exclaimed Hermione after a minute or so of thought, "this Puff of Mood, or POM as we call it, is brilliant! Look, I even bought some! Pink for love-struck, green for contempt, white for calm, light blue for troubled, dark blue for depression, purple for rage, as people tend to go purple when they're really angry! Yellow for…what's yellow for again…oh yeah, randomness, orange for hyper and black for hopeless. I think. Want a go?" Gasped Hermione. She had only taken about 3 breaths during the whole thing and was in desperate need of some oxygen.

"Sure! Let me see!" exclaimed Cali as she held out her hand for Hermione to pass her the small vile of swirling smoke that remained nearly transparent. Carefully, Cali pulled the stopper from the top of the vile and waited for the smoke to completely empty itself. It swirled and danced in the centre of the compartment for a moment before enlarging itself and heading for above Cali's head where it stayed suspended, supposedly thinking through what mood she was in.

After several moments of colour changing, it finally settled on a vibrant red that Cali was a little concerned about.

"Um…does this mean it doesn't know?" asked Cali cautiously, eyeing the smoke with wariness.

"Oh, no! Red means ecstatic! I knew there was one I forgot…" Hermione reassured.

"Phew! I thought it meant I was a lost cause!" laughed Cali at her own lack of thought and relaxed a little. "Hmm…I'm starving! When's the trolley coming round?" she muttered a little while later. She had been on the train for almost 3 hours and her porridge almost 4 and a half hours earlier was failing to keep her satisfied.

Cali went to move and the cloud moved too. She sat down and it stayed exactly the same distance away from the top of her head.

"Hmm." Said Cali, a look of deep thought etched into her youthful face. "Hermione, how long does it take for this cloud to go?"

"Um…" Hermione looked a little sheepish. "Ron?" she asked her friend.

"Huh? Sorry, I wasn't listening." Explained Ron, his ears blushing a deep shade of scarlet as he glanced at Cali. "I was daydreaming."

"No change there then," Hermione tutted "How long does it take for the POM to disappear?"

"Oh, only about 4 hours. Fred and George always give you your money's worth!" Smiled Ron, his ears settling down to their usual freckly business.

"What?! 4 hours?!" Cali cried out "It takes 4 hours for the POM to disappear?! Oh my god, this is going to be embarrassing…" Cali trailed off and began to bite her bottom lip as she so often did when she was worried or anxious.

The POM above her changed from its previous violent red to a shade of light blue not unlike the one just outside the compartment window. There was no hiding your emotions with a POM floating a few inches above your head for all to see. The rain had ceased its lashing at the pane and the sky had cleared up, leaving the to sun shine through a nearly cloudless sky.

There was a noise outside the compartment door and Cali, who was sat nearest the door, caught a glimpse of black robes disappearing out of sight. _Strange. _She thought.

"I don't see the problem. You've had it for 2 hours already. Only 2 more to go." Perked up Luna, finally putting down her copy of The Quibbler and taking more part in the discussion at hand. She smiled encouragingly at her best friend and stood up to get a good look at the POM.

Cali looked at Luna happily; she could always rely on Luna to be as consistent as Custard. This was why Cali loved her.

"Hermione, could I talk to you privately for a moment?" asked Cali, gesturing for everyone else to move out of the compartment and save her any embarrassment earlier than was necessary. She didn't exactly want to walk out into the isle of the train with a POM floating above her head. They did and she thanked them silently with a nod of the head or a squeeze on the arm.

"Right. Spill. What's the problem?" queried Hermione, eyeing the girl she had known for 5 years with the same knowing look that Hermione always seemed to have on her face.

"What makes you think there's a problem? Maybe I just wanted to talk to you in private." Said Cali, her eyes darting towards the POM to see its reaction. Luckily, Fred and George had left out 'Lieing' as one of the POM's features.

"Cali, I know when you're lieing, now tell me the problem."

The stern look on her friends face was almost comical. She looked so much like her mother sometimes!

"Okay, okay." She glanced at the time on the compartments clock. "I have half an hour to get rid of this POM before I make a complete fool of myself."

"Why only half an hour?" asked Hermione.

"Because when I was at home this morning, I got an owl from the school saying that on the train at 5 o'clock exactly, I had to go to compartment number 207, the really posh one that is used for Prefects and Heads of Year, and I would be informed of some new arrangements. Oh, incase you didn't already know, the Prefects meeting is being held at school instead of on the train this year." Informed Cali.

"Yeah, I knew. Thanks anyway though. I see your problem then. Maybe we could get one of the 7th years that's already of age to try a disappearing charm…" and Hermione was in thought again. This time, though, Cali couldn't wait.

"HERMIONE!!" she yelled, making her other friends outside peer into the cabin to see what the source of the commotion was. "What am I going to do?!" she said, laughing at Hermione's reaction to her yell. She had jumped so much that she had slid straight off her seat and landed with a thump on the floor.

"Well, like I suggested" she stated, clambering back onto the seat looking a little annoyed and dishevelled, "I'll go and fetch one of the 7th years. Fred and George should know what to do." And she ran off down the train to locate Fred and George.

5 minutes passed and just as Cali was starting to get a little concerned, Hermione returned with the Weasley twins.

"Alright Cali. What's your problem with our stock then?!" Laughed Fred, and then glanced at the POM that was now turning a more violent shade of blue every second; and his face fell. "Okay, let's see what we can do." So he and George both grabbed their wands and started making complicated movements over the cloud of smoke.

"Wait!" screeched Hermione a few minutes later, just as the POM was beginning to turn black. "How could I have been so stupid?!" she muttered and immediately began rummaging through her bag and robes. "Gotcha!" Hermione exclaimed, drawing an even smaller vile out of the pocket where the POM had come from. Inside, its contents looked like nothing more than coloured water, except it was more shimmery and looked like Felix Felicis's texture.

"What is tha- STOP!" Screeched Cali as Hermione began to pour the Felicis look-a-like potion onto the POM. She leapt back in shock, however as the POM began to fizz and hiss angrily. Cali could not move away from the hissing POM, however, as it was still refusing to leave its position of hovering a few inches above her head. "Oh, Hermione,_ what_ did you put on that thing?!" Cali asked nervously as she eyed the POM with ever increasing concern.

"No need to worry, Cali my dear." Said Fred "It's just the potion we provide with every purchase of a Puff of Mood, or as these lot so nicely call it, a POM."

"Fine, but what does it do? Make it more entertaining for those watching?!" snapped Cali angrily. She glanced at the clock. 15 minutes to go.

"Calm down, hot head! If you would care to do two things. The first being: listen. The second being: look up." George spoke properly for the first time. He was calm, and seemingly arrogant. Arrogant was not a good thing to be around Cali, but she let it slide as she knew they were just like that. Also, well…it was the Weasley twins. They were allowed to be.

Cali glanced up. She was shocked at what she saw. The POM had almost completely gone, just a few wisps of smoke remained dancing and tumbling, almost sparkling in the sunlight. It was a serene spectacle that calmed even Cali's current panic.

"Thank you." She said quietly and hugged Hermione.

"What are friends for?!" chuckled Hermione.

"And where is our reward, eh?!" asked Fred and George in tandom, giving her a mock hurt look.

"And you two. Thank you for making POM's last for such a long time." She playfully hit them both. "But thank you for supplying a quick fix for if you want rid of them too!" Cali laughed and hugged them too.

"Erm…Cali. I think you'd better get going." Said Hermione, glancing at the clock. The time showed five minutes past 5 o'clock.

"Shit!! I almost forgot! Thanks Hermione! Bye you two, see you when we get to Hogwarts!" Cali said a quick thank you to the twins and rushed off down trough the carriages until she reached number 207. She took a few deep breaths, straightened herself out and knocked confidently on the compartment door.

There was no answer. She knocked again and this time, the door slid open to reveal the pointed pale face and casually scruffy hair that belonged to the person sat by the window, gazing out of it.

"Hey Cali." It said casually. The voice belonged to a boy that Cali knew she knew, but couldn't put a finger on who it was that was speaking to her.

"Um, hey. Sorry, just why do I have to be here?" she said unsurely, still stood at the compartment door.

"I'll explain in a minute. Make yourself comfortable." The voice was making its sentences short and sharp. Cali didn't really trust it, but sat down anyway, convincing herself that she was sitting down because she wanted to and not because the voice had told her to.

Cali sat in silence with her company's back turned on her. She couldn't understand why she was still here. It was like some invisible force was stopping her leaving, but she knew she didn't _want _to leave.

Cali and the boy stayed sat in an absolute silence for a further 10 minutes until Cali could not stand it any longer.

"Why won't you speak? Do I just have to sit here until we arrive or are you actually going to tell me why I'm here?" Cali snapped, shocking herself at how sharp her voice sounded.

"Fine. You wanna talk? Then we'll talk. What d'ya want to know?" the voice continued in keeping its sentences short.

"Several things. First off, why do you not talk in longer sentences? Secondly, why the bloody hell am I sat here with you when I could be in my friend's compartment enjoying the journey?"

"Okay. I don't mean to talk in short sentences; just how I've grown up has taught me to be mainly silent." The voice explained "I'm sorry if this offends you." He added sarcastically.

"Don't get sarcastic with me! I may not be fully aware who you are right now, but I could still wipe the floor with you." Cali retaliated defensively. She hated sarcasm. "So? Why am I here?"

The boy chuckled. "Still as defiant and independent as ever, I see."

"What? Sorry, do I know you?" asked Cali, desperately trying to pin a face to a voice.

"What?!" he said softly as he turned round. Cali could see she had obviously hurt him. "Cali, we spend practically the whole of last year together! How can you not remember me?"

"Sorry. I really can't remember." She murmured, beginning to feel increasingly sorry for the boy and angry with herself for hurting him and not being able to remember his name.

"Cali!" the boy stood up and sat next to her, grasping her hand. "Don't you remember? The Slytherin common room, 3rd term. What did you do then?"

Cali thought hard, determined to find his name on her own. "I sat with…Draco round the fire most evenings. What's that got to do with it thou-…?" Cali's voice trailed off as she realised. "Oh!" she squeaked in surprise. "I-I didn't recognise you!" She stared at his face. He had matured a lot over the holidays; growing taller, his cheek and jaw bones becoming more defined; his hair was longer too, but only slightly. Also, he seemed to have allowed a little more colour into his features, his skin was not ghostly white as it had been for so many years and his hair no longer looked the colour of a sun-bleached skull, it was more creamy than white. He looked older than his years, but his eyes still gave away his youth, sparkling in the sun streaming through the window.

She suddenly realised how much she was staring as Draco had started to fidget uncomfortably. "Oh Draco! I'm so sorry!" she cried, wrapping her arms round him tightly and not wanting to let go.

"That's okay, I almost didn't recognise you!" he confessed.

"Note the 'almost'. _Almost_, Draco." She let go of him and looked into his eyes. Her own were watering and she didn't know why. She never cried, so why was she crying now?!

"Hang on! You!? Grown up to be mainly silent?!" Cali burst into laughter. You could talk the hind leg off a donkey!" She chuckled, holding back her tears and praying Draco hadn't noticed.


End file.
